UPLAND>> The City Council on Monday voted to task a subcommittee with gathering more information on several budget cutting initiatives presented by the city manager in order to keep the city fiscally solvent.

City Manager Stephen Dunn provided the council a list of ways to increase revenues and cut expenditures, asking them to rate each item 1 through 10 in order to give him direction on what to further look into.

But, not believing there was enough information provided, the council voted to create a 10-member subcommittee instead, which is expected to review the options and report back to the council by Dec. 31.

The council is expected to give Dunn direction in January on what cuts or revenue boosts to pursue in order to save about $3.5 million in the general fund budget annually over the next five years.

“We’re going to be the ones that ultimately make the decision, so we’re not passing the buck,” Councilman Brendan Brandt said.

Following its regular council meeting on Monday, the council met to continue a budget conversation that began Saturday during a special workshop.

Councilwoman Debbie Stone did not agree with the formation of a committee and instead challenged the council to give Dunn direction immediately.

“Let’s quit deferring and make a decision,” Stone said. “The council is supposed to be here, from what I’ve been told, to set policy and give staff direction. Right now I see we’re tying the city manager’s hands and not allowing him to move forward on getting this stuff done that we should have done a year and a half ago.”

Councilman Gino Filippi also conveyed the sense of urgency in making a decision and asked the committee to complete their review by Dec. 31, rather than an initially proposed date of Jan. 31.

Dunn on Saturday gave the council two pages for their review that included lists of possible ways to increase revenues and eliminate expenditures.

The first page outlines ways the city can boost reserves, such as selling cell tower leases, properties and equipment.

It also asks council members whether they support funding certain budget categories such as boosting reserves back to the 10 percent limit, correcting deficit balances and providing funding for additional staffing.

The second page asks the council to rate their priorities 1 through 10 for potential revenue sources such as asking voters to approve taxes, creating new fees or selling water and sewer assets.

The council was to rate expenditure reductions such as asking employees for concessions, eliminating elected official benefits, outsourcing or regionalizing city services and even eliminating city departments.

Councilmen Brandt and Glenn Bozar did not believe the rating sheet provided them enough information to give Dunn direction.

“If I had all the information I needed to do that, I would do it tonight,” Brandt said. “The items on this list, once we set the course to do that, will fundamentally change the nature of this city and the way the city provides services and the way the city operates.”

Dunn said he is not asking the council to make decisions, but rather help him know how to allocate his resources.

“To vet all those things is going to take a long time, so I’m saying if I know the City Council is really interested in these areas then I can allocate my personal resources and my staff’s resources and focus on that,” he said.

Dunn is looking for $3.5 million in savings to the general fund, but $8 million would be needed in order to operate the city at its optimal level.

“$8 million is probably too high of a goal. $3.5 million is probably too high of a goal. I understand why there’s some reservation of even picking that number,” he said. “I’m also saying you’re not going to get into the weeds and go into each department and find millions of dollars of savings. That’s the low hanging fruit. We took that low hanging fruit years ago.”

The city faced a similar threat of bankruptcy one year ago, when Dunn was seeking $2 million to $4 million in savings.

At that time, the council’s list of cost reducing measures were nearly identical to the list given to them Saturday.

Dunn’s recommendations then also included consideration of outsourcing city services, employee concessions, selling city assets and asking residents to approve new taxes.

The council agreed to about $500,000 in short-term savings before asking city employees to make concessions, which they ultimately did in January.

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